End of the World? Delco's Quinn helps dispel the Mayan myth (With Video)

PHILADELPHIA -- Have you heard? The world is ending on Dec. 23. You've seen it in movies. You've heard about it on talk shows. You've seen it on TV.

The Mayan Calendar ends in December (some say Dec. 21, some Dec. 23). The ancient society obviously knew the world was going to end thousands of years after they started putting down dates.

It's coming. You can't escape. Head to the bunker. Stock up on bottled water.

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Or, maybe not.

"From what we can tell, it seems to have started sometime in the 1980s, this idea about the Maya and Apocalyptic thinking," said Kate Quinn, director of exhibitions at the Penn Museum, which has just opened a new exhibit called Maya.2012. "Apocalyptic thinking has been around for centuries. It seems people just started latching on to this misunderstanding."

Wait a minute. You're saying the Mayans didn't predict the end of the world?

"When we were in Honduras last year and we talked to the people, they thought we were crazy," Quinn said. "You know, 'How can you blame the end of the world on us?' They really think all this talk about 2012 and the end of the world is it's great for tourism, and they are going to get a lot of people to stay in the their hotels.

"We did a lot of testing, and almost everybody, about 75 percent, knew the world was going to end," Quinn said. "They just didn't know why or how or any of that detail. A lot of people thought it was Aztec or Inca based. Some said Maya, but they didn't really know.

"We felt this was a really strong opportunity to teach people the true story and uncover the truth about these apocalyptic predictions. Really to understand these predictions, you have to understand the Maya."

Quinn, who is in charge of the all the exhibitions in the 64,000-square-foot museum ("We have as much space as the Franklin Institute," Quinn said. "Many people don't know that."), kind of stumbled into the museum business.

The Briarcliffe native, who graduated from Archbishop Prendergast High School, studied theater at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She worked on movies and plays in Philadelphia and New York until "I kind of got frustrated working freelance and I wanted more steady work.

"So, I literally stumbled upon a program at (the University of the Arts) and started work on my master's (degree). In between my first and second year, I interned here. So, that's how I got into the museum and got a sense of what the place is all about."

A few years later, Quinn, who attended grammar school at St. Joseph's of Collingdale and won an art contest sponsored by the Daily Times in 1989 or 1990 ("I can't remember, but my mom still has the certificate"), was wandering around the tombs and temples in the ancient Maya city of Copan in Honduras.

"I was there last summer," Quinn said. "It was pretty amazing. I went through all the tombs and the temples. It was remarkable, just astonishing in every way."

This brings us to 2012.

"When the civilization started to dwindle, there was also less writing and less documentation on stone objects," Quinn said. "Other writings were destroyed, they think, by flood and many other environmental issues really affected the Maya.

"They actually did start appearing about 100 years later, but it was on paper. When you have the switchover to paper, paper just doesn't last as long."

When entering the Maya.2012 exhibit, you are hit with the end-of-the-world scenarios. Scenes from the movie "2012" are on several screens. You have newspaper headlines trumpeting the end of the world. There are pages from books and prophetic quotes.

Then, you get down to reality.

"We want people to learn," Quinn said. "I want you to come through the exhibit and have the same feeling as if you are in a movie."

The exhibit features real Mayan artifacts from bowls, to weapons, to toys. Interactive parts include learning about hieroglyphics and searching for hidden messages. There are also lessons on reading the dates on the Mayan calendar.

Many of the treasures are leaving Copan for the first time. At the end of the tour, there are interviews with Maya people today. The exhibit is scheduled to run until January, unless, of course, the world ends.

"It's really an opportunity for us to tell that story," Quinn said. "People are going to believe what they want to believe, but we hope, coming through the exhibition, if you do believe the world will end, we can offer some scholarship on what the Maya did believe and do believe. Maybe it will help change your perspective on things."

So, if the end of the world pulls you into the Penn Museum, all the better.

"I've had the opportunity to study a lot of things I wouldn't have on my own," Quinn said. "It's the same for any visitor. It's really just a basis for a story for me. Any time I get new content, I'm really excited about what we can do to it. How can we use that? What is the public going to like? To use that as a means to teach people at all levels.

"Probably the most difficult challenge is you need to have a an experience, such as the Maya.2012 exhibit, for 6-year-olds all the way up to 106-year-olds. They have to have the same kind of beneficial experience leaving the exhibition. Not everybody is going to read everything. Not everybody is going to see all the artifacts. Not everybody is going to use the interactive. We need to build something for everybody."

IF YOU GO:

The Penn Museum is located at 3260 South St., Philadelphia. The SEPTA University Station is right across the street. Hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and holidays. General admission: Adults $12; students $8; seniors $10, children 6-17 $8. Maya.2012 is a special exhibition. The cost is $22.50, but includes general admission to the museum. For more information, check out the website at www.penn.museum